PRINCE ATHLETIC COMPLEX – 3rd-ranked Tufts University remained unbeaten on the 2026 season, defeating the host University of Rochester field hockey team 4-1 on Saturday morning at Edwin Fauver Stadium.
The final score did not indicate how close the game actually was, with the Yellowjackets (6-2) battling the Jumbos (7-0) toe-to-toe for the majority of the first half.
Saturday's match featured three penalty strokes, two for Tufts and one for Rochester, with the Jumbos converting their two chances, proving to be a big difference on the scoreboard.
One of those penalty strokes led to the first goal of the game just over two minutes into the contest. On a corner, Tufts' Hannah Murray was tripped up in the circle, denying a goal-scoring opportunity, leading to the stroke call. Claire Casey stepped up to the mark and converted the goal to give Tufts the early 1-0 advantage.
URochester's first shot of the contest was their penalty stroke, which came in the tenth minute. After a corner, a foul occurred against
Erin Foley, with the referee issuing a stroke call in favor of the Yellowjackets. UR's
Hannah Mehta took the shot for the Yellowjackets, but laced one off the right post, keeping the Jumbos in front.
Shortly after the missed stroke attempt,
Grayson Honig and
Ella Krauss broke in on a pair of Jumbo defenders on a 2-on-2 situation, with Honig attempting a 10-yard turnaround shot that was saved by keeper Isabel Ginns.
Early in the second quarter, the Yellowjackets knotted the game up at one on their third shot of the contest.
Erin Foley dribbled in towards the baseline of the Tufts circle and sent a centering pass in towards Honig. The UR senior settled the ball, got the Tufts keeper off her line and slipped a shot into the cage for her second goal of the season.
Neither team got much in the way of offense the rest of the quarter until Tufts edged back in front with another goal from Casey. This one came off a penalty corner, with Casey ripping a hard shot from the edge of the circle to the low left corner of the net.
A turnover in the midfield led to an early Tufts chance in the third quarter, with Eleanor Helm unleashing a hard backhand from 12 yards, but UR's
Riley Leeser in goal made the kick save, keeping her team within one.
Late in the third, Tufts got two goals within a three-minute span to boost its lead to three. Reagan Malo scored in the 42nd minute off a cross pass from Helm.
In the final minute of the period, a foot foul after a defensive save by
Isabelle Torralba led to another penalty stroke call, which Casey deposited into the net, earning her hat trick for the day.
Over the final stanza, the Yellowjackets earned four penalty corners and were consistently in the Jumbo's zone, but only were able to muster one shot, that off the stick of
Sophia Cuneo that was blocked.
For the contest, Tufts led 16-5 in shots, while also holding an 11-8 advantage in penalty corners. Leeser finished with five saves in the loss, while Ginns made one stop in the victory.
Rochester is right back in action on Sunday, with the Yellowjackets traveling to Allegheny College for a 1 pm contest.
